Department of Numbers

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Merced, California Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Merced, California metropolitan area using price-to-income and price-to-rent metrics.1 The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated. You can also compare Merced home affordability to other cities.

Merced, California Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Merced HPI series. Median household income data for Merced is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Merced, California Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2013 106.0
September 2013 101.2
June 2013 78.5
March 2013 88.5
December 2012 84.8
September 2012 83.0
June 2012 80.3
March 2012 82.0

Merced, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Merced median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Merced, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2013 79.4
September 2013 75.8
June 2013 58.8
March 2013 66.2
December 2012 63.5
September 2012 62.2
June 2012 60.1
March 2012 61.4

Merced, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Merced, California and calculating the mortgage 30% of that income could afford. Traditionally, 30% of income is the maximum amount a homeowner could use towards a home loan. Inferred affordable loan values are calculated from ACS median household income and average monthly mortgage rates.

Inferred Affordable Mortgage

Merced, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $220,244
January 2014 $216,885
December 2013 $216,121
November 2013 $221,293
October 2013 $223,146
September 2013 $215,361
August 2013 $216,121
July 2013 $218,426
June 2013 $226,379
May 2013 $241,518
April 2013 $244,236
March 2013 $240,622
February 2013 $241,818

1. Specifically, home prices are from the non seasonally adjusted FHFA all-transactions quarterly series. Dollar ratios are calculated using NAR metro prices when available. Rent and income data are from the Census ACS and are carried forward into the following year prior to release of the new data. ↩

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